The 19,000-member Covid response deployments are far larger than other mobilizations for recent national crises. For comparison, the Guard has more than 330 members currently responding to wildfires around the country, and nearly 10,000 members provided “civil disturbance” support after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol last year.
Ohio National Guard spokesperson Stephanie Beougher said that most guard members in the state have been assigned to Covid testing centers and about 60 hospitals across the state to help with clinical and general support.
In New York, more than 2,000 guard members are mobilized for Covid response, along with 62 members of the state volunteer New York Guard and 121 members of the New York Naval Militia.
About 22 states and Puerto Rico have active militias, or state guards, that are typically folded into state National Guard operations. New York’s state guard is all volunteer, as is Ohio’s.
Eric Durr, director of public affairs for the New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs, said that New York Guard members are deployed at 25 nursing homes and 28 vaccination sites, as well as testing sites.
At the nursing homes, Guard troops are performing duties similar to nurses, including helping with baths and meals and tending to the needs of residents.
Guard members are also providing assistance to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of New York City, supporting the recovery of remains.
In Idaho, Gov. Brad Little activated 75 National Guardsmen Monday to assist with the state health care system, as well as the state’s Department of Correction. That department is experiencing staff shortages due to Covid, according to a press release from the governor’s office.
And in New Mexico, there are 88 guard members in the classrooms as of Tuesday, according to the state’s Department of Education.
New Mexico Guard spokesperson Joseph Vigil said that this was the first time state guard members had served as substitute teachers, adding that the members must first pass qualification checks.
“Before our Soldiers and Airmen enter the classrooms, we ensure they are credentialed, vetted and qualified — to include background checks — the same as every other substitute teacher is required to do so,” Vigil wrote in an email to NBC News.
Guard mobilizations have followed the ebbs and flows of a virus that has moved across the country at different times and at different speeds. Pandemic mobilizations were at the highest at the start of the pandemic, reaching a peak of more than 47,000 members in May 2020, when personnel were sent to help overwhelmed hospitals and long-term care facilities.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
